Mark shoots again: Franco Gasparri and his third appearance as police officer Mark Terzi

But this time his name is Mark Patti. Of course, he's also going undercover in Rome. As a late hippie, he roams the area around the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere and comes into contact with West German anarchists there. It's wonderful to see Paul Henkel (John Steiner) and Olga Kube (Marcella Michelangeli) reading the current SPIEGEL titles from Hamburg in the Roman sun. In any case, Mark is well received by the would-be terrorists and goes with them to some backers in Vienna. There he meets the obscure Inspector Altmann (John Saxon), who soon runs into a nasty ambush in Schönbrunn Palace Park. Die more beautifully with a view of Empress Sissi's dream castle! Splendid! The Swiss actor Paul Muller can be seen as another Austrian inspector.

Well acted, the action is good too, but the script isn't that strong. Director Stelvio Massi puts in a lot of effort, but after three parts with Franco Gasparri as Poliziotto Mark, the air simply runs out.

It's just a shame that Franco Gasparri (1948-1999) couldn't return to the big screen after his terrible motorcycle accident in 1981. His three films as Mark remain as his legacy. And of course the appearances as a child actor alongside Brad Harris in the sword and sandal films GOLIATH CONTRO I GIGANTI, SANSONE and LA FURIA DI ERCOLE in the early 1960s!

Stelvio Massi's "Mark the Narc" trilogy is by far the most underrated Poliziotesschi film-franchise in history. Perhaps they were a big success in cinemas around their times of release, I wouldn't know, but here on the website all three films have only a limited number of votes and user-comments, and I barely ever hear them mentioned in dedicated forums. I honestly can't fathom why, since their production values are way above average, there are several acclaimed actors appearing, and - most of all - they are really cool flicks!

The middle one ("Mark Shoots First") is the least of the bunch, but still very worthwhile, while the first ("Mark the Narc") and this third entry "Mark Strikes Again" (a.k.a "The .44 Specialist") are solid Poliziotesschi classics as far as I'm concerned.

Rebellious cop Mark Patti goes undercover and joins a young couple of terrorists, hoping to eventually unclutter the much larger network of terrorism that is active all over Europe. He must report his findings directly to Interpol agent Altman, but it's not certain everyone can be trusted.

Many in highlights in this one, ingenious story aspects as well as adrenalin-rushing action footage. There is an extremely violent shootout in a secret service headquarters, a hotel massacre, a number of brutal terrorist attacks, and the tense hijacking of a passenger train. On the lighter side of things, Marc has a steamy night with a lewd girl whose bedroom is full of mannequin dolls, a corpse originally gets transported through the city during rush hour, and two thugs on a motorcycle gets a lot more than they bargained for when they snatch the wrong bag during a drive-by robbery. The always reliable Stelvio Cipriani delivers another dazzling score, and the supportive cast contains a couple of respectable names and faces, like John Saxon, John Steiner, and Paul Muller.